iPhone Apps to Help Track Your Health and Fitness

Most of us would like to be slimmer, run faster and eat healthier, and we all would definitely like to have more sleep, but in a 24/7 world with an unending pile of distractions and stressful situations, finding the time (and motivation) to change our bodies and our lives for the better can be quite a challenge. Thankfully, Apple's App Store provides a bucketful of digital helpers that can keep your workout routine on track, count your calories, push you through a full-blown exercise routine in 7 minutes (no more excuses!) or simply help you get to sleep faster using the sound of trains and frogs (trust us). With the start of the new year and all of the resolutions you've made, you should take advantage of all the help these iPhone and iPad apps can provide. And while it's important not to take on too much at one time, we think you'll find that by employing these apps, you'll be better able to stick to the goals you've set for yourself, and maybe make some progress in areas you had never before considered.

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iPhone Apps to Help Track Your Health and Fitness

By Nathan Eddy

Nike+ Running Keeps You on (the) Track (Free)

One of the top-rated free fitness apps in Apple's App Store, this road-running companion tracks your runs and helps you reach your goals, whether it's running your first race or setting a new personal record. If competitive motivation's your thing, you can face off with your friends or anyone else in the community.

MyFitnessPal Helps You Count Calories (Free)

Boasting the largest food database of any iPhone calorie counter with more than 3 million foods, this app could go a long way with helping you take off those pesky extra pounds. The app helps you remember the foods you've eaten and fully syncs with the Web, so you can log on from your computer or from your iPhone.

7 Minute Workout Challenge Destroys Your Excuses ($1.99)

Researchers selected 12 exercises that are performed for 30 seconds with 10-second rest intervals, so just try to worm your way out of this one—a high-intensity workout that requires just over 7 minutes of your time and zero equipment. There's full video, audio, image and text instruction for each exercise, and you can track your activity to monitor weight loss and unlock rewards as you continue. The clock is ticking.

Take Sleep Machine to Slumberville ($1.99)

If the sound of nothing is your worst enemy when trying to sleep, then you should check out Sleep Machine, which offers a huge variety of ambient sounds to help you catch some Z's. Want to fall asleep next to a waterfall in the rain surrounded by a chorus of burbling frogs? Sleep Machine has you covered. Wind, rain, trains and the like can all be mixed and matched until you find the perfect level of ambiance to send you off to dreamland.

Make Fitness Buddy Your Best Friend ($1.99)

With more than 1,700 exercise routines, more than 1,000 HD videos, and more than 4,000 exercise photos and illustrations, Fitness Buddy opens up a whole new world of exercise and workout routines, complemented by the capability for custom routines, body metrics tracking and muscle categorizations.

AskMD Offers Personal Health Consultation (Free)

This free app can help identify what is bothering you as well as get you organized around your health, enabling you to have a better doctor's visit. The app will also ask you if you might be in a critical or life-threatening situation, and can direct you to the emergency rooms closest to your location. While it's no substitute for a real doctor, AskMD is about as close as you can get.

Argus Tracks Your Fitness and Motion (Free)

This free app turns your phone into a full-blown health and fitness device as it monitors and manages your activities, food, workouts, sleep, hydration, weight and vitals. A timeline is organized in a honeycomb structure that allows aggregation of data, along with more detailed views. The app is also engineered for minimal power consumption, so you can leave it running in the background.

Relieve Stress and Anxiety With Relax ($4.99)

Life can be stressful, we know. This antidote for anxiety helps you practice slow breathing and uses calming music to promote relaxation. Music cues use distinct tones for each phase of breathing, and a structured course helps you progress gradually through the sessions. The results could help you lower your blood pressure, improve stamina and fitness, and help in pain management.

Sleep Cycle Helps You Wake When You're Ready ($0.99)

A big part of waking up feeling rested is when in your sleep cycle your alarm clock wakes you—that's why this app is designed to wake you when your body is ready, not smack at 7:00 a.m. on the dot. Using the iPhone's built-in accelerometer, the app monitors your movement and determines what sleep phase you are in, and waits until the lightest sleep phase to gently pull you into the waking world.

Zombies, Run! Is Exactly What You Think It Is ($2.99)

Consider this your ultimate motivator. This running game and immersive adventure pits you against the zombie apocalypse, and only your trainers can save you from the bloodthirsty horde. If you're wondering how on earth you're ever going to get your blood pumping, just imagine a rotting corpse sucking it out of you. That should get your legs moving.

Nathan Eddy is Associate Editor, Midmarket, at eWEEK.com. Before joining eWEEK.com, Nate was a writer with ChannelWeb and he served as an editor at FierceMarkets. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.